Beyond The Veil
by FairytalesOfForever
Summary: Remus gets to see his friends again. Lily is a woman of second chances. Fred becomes the honorary fourth Maurader. Friends and family look down on those lost to them as old enemies and older friends are together again beyond the veil.
1. Things Are Changing

**Yay, new story! How exciting! This idea has been sitting in my very crowded head for a while now, and so I finally dragged my lazy self to the computer because I just know that you guys are going to love it. Or at least I hope you will.** **The** **chapters will be in chronological order, meaning who died first to last. This is sort of an introduction as to how I imagine this world to be structured.  
** **  
Disclaimer: Do I really seem like I could have written Harry Potter? That would be amazing, but, sadly, I am not J.K. Rowling in disguise.**

A tall, young man with messy black hair swirled his fingers absentmindedly in the cloudlike substance on which he lay. He looked up into the cloudless, starless sky over his head, a void expanse of blue somewhere between day and night. James Potter was bored. Very bored. He got to his feet and paced back and forth before flopping down again and peering over the edge of the cloud bank. There appeared to be nothing there- only an endless expanse of dark, royal blue sky speckled with pinpricks of light below him. However, when James stuck his finger in and swirled it around, the sky rippled like liquid.

"Harry Potter," he whispered, speaking the name with a loving tone that only a father could have. The sky below reformed into an image of a small cupboard, barely big enough for a bed, but it was as if James was seeing it from above. The image had depth, too, like he could jump into it and stand right beside the boy who looked so much like his father. The boy who lay on that bed, asleep.

James felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up at the woman who'd joined him: She was beautiful, with loving green eyes and wavy red hair that flowed down her back weightlessly. "Watching Harry again?", she asked. James looked up at her.

"I wish we could be there with him," he said longingly.  
Lily Potter nodded with a sad sort of smile.

"I have a great view now," James said with a wink, gesturing to Lily. She rolled her eyes and sat down beside him. "He's got your eyes," James mumbled.

"He's asleep!"  
"Well, yeah, but we've known since the day he was born."  
Lily reached down, feeling as if she was dipping her arm into liquid starshine, and brushed a bit of Harry's black hair away from his face. He stirred but didn't wake. James wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"There's so much he doesn't know," Lily said sadly. "Not where he comes from, or even how we- er-"  
Usually quite composed, even Lily found it difficult to refer to her own death. It still felt odd; the very idea that she was dead. It was so impossible to wrap her mind around that she'd stopped trying. James, however, understood.

"I know," he said. "I knew your sister was a - from the time I met her." Here he called Petunia something that caused Lily to swat him on the arm. There wasn't much force behind it, though, because to be honest, she agreed.

James pushed the glasses that he wore, even in death, higher up his nose. Although he could now see just as well without them, Lily had surmised that they were such a trademark of his, he'd look strange without them. "I wonder how Moony and Padfoot are doing," he mumbled.

"Well, we know how Sirius is doing", Lily said darkly. "It won't be full moon for another two weeks, though."

Here she was, of course, referring to Remus. James felt sorry for his friend, who believed himself the last loyal Maurader; as far as he, and the rest of the Wizarding world, knew, two of the original Mauraders were dead and the third might as well be.

"Sirius Black", he said aloud, swirling the liquid image of his son. The image changed; now they were above a prison cell, where a lone figure sat in one corner with his head down and his hands chained to the wall.

Sirius was so different from the laughing, smiling prankster and daredevil that James had once known. His famously good looks were gone, his general appearance gaunt and haggard, and the hair he'd once been so proud of hung in tangled mats around his shoulders. His eyes had grown dark and his face blank, all traces of joy and life gone from James' best friend. He felt Lily's hand on his shoulder.

"You're innocent, mate", James said, although he was sure that the man below could not hear him. "Don't let the Dementors take that from you."  
Sirius raised his head slightly; James could've sworn his friend had heard his words.

"Something will happen", Lily said to James, looking into her husband's hazel eyes. "Sirius Black isn't going to die in Azkaban. I just know, I know Sirius. He'll find a way."  
The shadow of a smile flickered across James' face. "Something big is about to go down, Lils. I don't know what it is, but it's got something to do with Harry."

"He's about to turn eleven", Lily said aloud, though more to herself than anything.  
"They'll find him", James assured them both. "They have to."

 **Reviewers (and I'm being Sirius here, pun intended haha) will get to PM a beyond the veil character of their choice!**


	2. Quidditch

Lily lay on her back against the soft, cloudlike substance that formed the floor of this dreamlike place, her hands resting under her head and her long, dark red hair splayed out beneath her. She wore baby-soft, pure white robes, just like James, who was fidgeting with what looked like a Snitch some distance away. "What are you doing?", Lily asked him, her voice carrying like an echo.

"I was bored," James explained, "and I wished I could play Quidditch. So then these appeared."

He gestured to the Snitch, as well as a Quaffle, which lay at his feet. James batted the Quaffle up into the air, expertly passing, catching, and spinning it by himself. Lily shook her head.

"Quidditch," she laughed. James jumped up into the air, drifting much higher than in life, and landed in front of his laughing wife.

"Somehow I don't see Harry doing that," she giggled. James put on a mock-horrified expression.

"What? He's not carrying on my troublemaking legacy? I hereby disown you!" he shouted dramatically to the empty sky below. Lily laughed.

"I think he's more like me, personally."

James glanced at Lily, and, addressing the sky below them once more, exclaimed, "Welcome back to the family!" Lily shook her head, sadness and laughter mingling in her smile.

"He can't hear you, James," she reminded him fondly.

"I wish he could," the aforementioned mumbled.

"Me too, James. Me too. I will give it to you, he's quite a good Quidditch player," Lily laughed, changing the subject. "Can't say that came from my genes." James' eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. Lily watched him carefully. "What is it, James?"

"Well," he replied, "I'd rather show you than tell you..."  
Then, grabbing her wrist, James called "Harry Potter!"  
He leapt over the edge of the clouds into the sunless, moonless sky below, pulling Lily with him.

Lily ran a hand through her hair, landing cleanly on the ground behind James.

"What are we doing here?" she asked. "He can't see us or hear us."  
"Exactly," James replied with a wink. "C'mon."

He loped gracefully through midair over to the Gryffindor stands, seating himself behind a girl with bushy brown hair and a boy with an absurd amount of freckles. Both wore Gryffindor scarves and waved scarlet-and-gold pennants, so James had deemed them all right. Lily had rather harshly reminded him that not _all_ Gryffindors are herioc and noble, but James quickly explained that he "liked the look of these two". Lily shook her head with a small smile.

Suddenly, James poked her arm.

"What?" Lily asked him.

"Watch this!" James said to her gleefully. He swiped his arm towards the boy, and for a minute Lily thought James was going to hit him, but instead the tall man's slightly transparent arm swished right through the boy's head of fiery red hair. He shuddered a little but otherwise didn't seem to notice.

Lily rolled her eyes. "James, did you really drag me down here to watch you swipe your arm through some poor boy's head?", she asked impatiently.

"No," James amended quickly. "Look!"

Lily followed his finger with her eyes. Circling high above them, a boy who looked remarkably like a first-year James from down where they stood was searching the field for something- presumably the Snitch. Clearly, he was the Seeker.

"Not only on the Quidditch team, but a Seeker, in his first year!" James whistled. "Clearly he inherited my talent."

Lily rolled her eyes. "He's better than you ever were," she teased.

"Hi, Pronglet!" James called.

Lily sighed. "He can't _hear_ you, James. And must you call him that?"

"Yes", her husband replied immediately. Then his eyes scanned the Slytherin stands. "I wonder who the Head of Hou- _Snivellus?!_ "  
Lily gasped. "Sev?!"  
James gave her a pointed look. Lily ignored him.

"If you call him by a nickname I don't like, then I'll do the same for you," she pointed out.

"Look, he's jinxing Harry's broomstick!" James yelled angrily.

Lily tried to pull him back. "You can't _do_ anything, James! And it's not him, look!"  
She pointed to a small, oddly dressed wizard who wore a purple turban. He was staring at Harry, not breaking eye contact. The aura of a curse was almost visible to the beyond-the-veil young couple.

"Well, then what's Sni- ergh, fine, _Snape_ saying?"  
"A countercurse! See, they're different!"  
A different, brighter magical aura was indeed circling Snape. James grumbled. Lily looked slightly victorious. They watched the rest of the game, shocked, until Harry stood up with something in his mouth. James leaned forwards, through the red-headed boy. Lily pulled him back, as the effect was very disconcerting.

"He looks like he's going to be sick", James muttered. Lily laughed when the boy in front of him said the same thing. Harry coughed again and the Golden Snitch fell into his palm. The Gryffindor stands erupted in cheers-  
but none more so than James Potter.


	3. Full Moon

"I wonder why there's no one else up here", Lily mused. "It's been ten years, after all."  
"Maybe there's some kind of portal between the worlds", James mumbled. He wasn't paying attention, though; Lily could tell. He was peering over the edge of the cloud into the mirrored pool of sky below, staring into a dusty, dimly lit basement. It was little more than a dungeon cell; protective spells glimmered on the walls, which were stained with blood. The silver moonlight fell onto the face of a man in the corner; he was still young, but there were gray streaks in his hair and premature lines on his face.

Though the sky that surrounded them held no sun or moon, through the barred window of the cellar, Lily could see the moon. It was full, casting cold, pale golden light across the dusty cellar. The young man in the corner appeared to be avoiding looking at it. His face was white, his jaw clenched and his eyes pressed shut. A shudder passed over him and he lowered his head, hunching his bare, scarred shoulders. Lily felt like her heart was being squeezed painfully; out of all the Marauders, her friendship with Remus had probably been the longest. And yet, even with that, it had taken her a long time to find out exactly how much pain he'd become so adept at hiding.

He appeared to be trying to make himself as small as possible; his knees were tucked up to his chest, and he was trembling uncontrollably. James gritted his teeth, hating the sight of his friend in pain and wishing there was something he could do. He looked up at the touch of a cool, soft hand on his shoulder.  
"I know", Lily said softly. "Maybe you could try going down there as Prongs? He might sense that you're there. I had things like that happen to me when I was.. younger."  
She avoided saying "alive", because it just felt odd to use it in the past tense. She was trying desperately to take her mind off of the sounds coming from the scene below.

James shrugged. "It's worth a try."

He lept over the edge of the cloud, transforming into his Animagus form on the way down. Lily watched as the glimmering, spectral stag gently nosed the werewolf. The humanoid wolf-beast looked up from chewing on its paw and tilted its head in a curious way that might've been cute, if it were a dog. It gave a little growl, then got up and began pacing, growing more and more agitated as it discovered that it was trapped.

The wolf slammed itself against the walls and clawed at itself, trying desperately to break free of this prison and rid itself of the human annoyance that flickered in its brain. Prongs leapt around it, trying to get its attention, but he simply didn't exist enough to really make a difference. Again and again, Moony slammed himself against the concrete walls of the dark cellar, clawing at the walls, itself, and anything else within reach in frustration.

Lily closed her eyes, trying to block out the sickening _thuds_ , whimpers, and howls that rang out so clearly. How did James _stand_ it, being there every month for so long? How did _Remus_ stand it? How did he go on living, when he had nothing left to live for? Why, how was this fair- they'd been so close once, so carefree, and look at them now. Two dead, one dead to the rest, and the last two living what barely deserved to be called life.

Who even decided why all this happened, why the best people should be the ones to have their lives ruined? Even being dead, Lily still was no closer to the answer. Her heart hurt to see the shimmering stag prance ever more desperately around the werewolf, but it was too far gone to even notice he was there.

So the hours passed, and Lily turned away, trying to distract herself with something, anything, but what was there to do? James finally returned as the sun's light began to shine through the bars of the basement, illuminating the fresh scarlet blood that was now dark against the stone walls. He put his arm around Lily, and she held him like a lifeline. Thinking that this place was supposed to always be happy, she bit back tears for the first time in a very long time.

The werewolf curled up as if it was going to sleep and slowly turned back into Remus. His robes were torn and tattered, his many scars were bare, and he was covered in bruises and raw, bloody wounds. He looked up, opened tired eyes, then began to sit up and winced in pain. He slumped back against the wall, looking around him at the crude prison and blood-drenched walls, and Lily thought that she had never seen someone look so defeated. Suddenly, she noticed that there were tears streaming down his face, a quiet release of what she had already seen. He had nothing left to live for.  
And she couldn't help it.  
She began to cry with him.


	4. I'm Dead?

**A/N: New character time, woop woop! The whole graveyard bit will be split between two chapters (sorryyyy!)**

Cedric was extremely confused.  
He had just been in the maze with Harry, then the cup took them to that graveyard, and then...then what? He vaguely remembered a flash of green light and a high, cold voice, but where had it come from? And where was he now?  
He looked around. He appeared to be standing on some sort of cloud or something, and he was surrounded by a sky with no sun, moon, or clouds. It was above him and below him, a color somewhere between night and day, and he was wearing clean, soft white robes.  
 _What the heck is going on?_

Then, in the distance, Cedric saw two figures coming towards him. As they got closer, he saw that they were a man and a woman, both dressed in the same soft white robes he was wearing. At first he thought the man was Harry; he had the same tall, lean build, messy black hair, and glasses. However, as he got closer, Cedric realized that he was too old to be Harry; he looked somewhere between nineteen and twenty-one. His eyes were also hazel instead of green. The woman behind him was very pretty; she had long, dark red hair and brilliant green eyes like Harry's.

"Who are you?" all three asked at the same time.  
The woman smiled. She looked very young, but she had a kind, motherly smile. "I'm Lily, and this is James. I can't believe there's finally someone else here!"  
Shock hit Cedric like a Knockback Jinx and rooted him to the cloudlike ground. "Lily and James...Potter?"  
The man grinned. He had a careless, confident smile. "The very same."  
"But, wait...that means I'm..." No, this was too strange. If these were Harry's parents, then Cedric was... _dead._ How was he dead?  
"I-is that what the spell did?" he managed to stammer. "It was one of those curses Moody taught us about?"  
The woman—Lily—nodded. "We know how it feels."

That was the same spell that had killed _them._ No, this was just too much. Cedric shook his head in denial. "But I don't...I can't be! I have a tournament to finish, a _life_ to finish—"  
"Do you think we didn't feel that way?" James asked. "We had a son to raise. We're only four years older than you."  
The shock of this realization was almost as bad as being told he was dead. It shook Cedric to realize that Harry's parents were and would now forever be almost his age.  
"Harry...he misses you, but I think you'd be proud of him," Cedric told them.  
Lily nodded. "Oh, we are. We've been watching him. I will say that he's been tackling this tournament the way his father would—"  
"The most awesome way possible?" James asked with a wink.  
"Waiting until the last minute and letting dumb luck take over," Lily finished.

Cedric laughed. "Well, if you've been watching Harry, I guess you know who I am, but I'm Cedric Diggory, anyway."  
James nodded. "The Hufflepuff hero whose beauty rivals my own."  
Cedric glanced at Lily. "Uh..."  
Lily shook her head. "Don't listen to him," she told Cedric. "I know you'll probably miss the people you left, but you can watch them if you like. You just can't interact."  
"Like Cho?" Cedric asked a little too quickly. "Um, I mean..."  
"You mean the girl you stole from Ha-" Lily clapped a hand over her husband's mouth. "I love you, James, but will you stop being so childish? I'm trying to explain how things work here!"  
James sighed. "Fine. You are absolutely no fun. Actually," he corrected, "You can be a lot of fun." He raised his eyebrows with a smirk.  
"Um, I don't need to hear about-" Cedric began.  
"However, you are currently being no fun," James finished.

Lily rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.  
"We should see how Harry's doing," Cedric suggested. "I'm not sure what he's facing down there, but if it could...you know..."  
Lily nodded. "I agree," she said. "Harry Potter," she commanded to the sky below. It turned as clear as glass, letting them see Harry. He was standing in front of some kind of statue, facing a cauldron, and in front of the cauldron stood a black-robed figure that...  
Lily gasped.  
"That's him," James said hoarsely.  
Cedric looked at the figure and drew back. It was hideously snakelike and inhuman.  
"That's... _him_?" Cedric asked, his throat suddenly dry.  
Lily nodded. "Voldemort," she whispered.


	5. Into The Graveyard

Cedric knelt at the edge of a cloud, staring down in horror at the...the...the _thing_ below him. It could hardly be called human, even if it walked, talked, casted spells, and sort of looked like one. The figure beneath the black robes was not a man, but a monster. Its face was disturbing, greenish-white and snakelike; Cedric didn't want to look at it. However, he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away. He knew it was unreasonable to be afraid, since (and this was difficult to wrap his mind around) he was already dead, and yet...how could one look at the face of Voldemort and not feel any fear?

He was scared for Harry, who had been to him something of a friend, and at the very least an ally; but as for Lily and James...he was their son. He couldn't imagine how they felt, especially since none of them had the power to intervene.

"We can't do anything, can we?" he asked.

Lily shook her head frustratedly. "We can't...James, can you think of anything?"

James shook his head, and Cedric saw real fear, fear for his son, flicker across his face. "Something's gonna happen. It has to. It has to!"

Cedric swallowed, his throat dry. Voldemort was walking around, speaking to Harry and his followers now. Cedric wasn't sure what he was saying; he wasn't sure he wanted to know. His hands curled into fists on his knees. He was amazed that Harry looked relatively calm. There was an object on the ground some distance away from the group...was that a _person_?  
Cedric looked closer and went cold. His stomach felt like a rock; he thought he might be sick. That was _his_ body, his hair blown back and his eyes staring blankly at the sky. Cedric swallowed and shuddered, tearing his eyes away. _I'm only seventeen. I shouldn't have to see my own corpse._

Cedric, Lily, and James watched as Voldemort finished his speech and said something to Harry. When he forced Harry to bow, James looked like he was about to hit something. Cedric watched in shock as their spells connected in a half-red, half-green beam of light, like a deadly Christmas decoration. Suddenly, a golden cage-like structure of light appeared around them. Cedric watched in shock as Voldemort's wand emitted a silvery shadow of a hand- what was going on?

Then he felt a tugging sensation at his feet. It was almost like a Portkey (Cedric never wanted to see one of those again). He was pulled through the cloud he was standing on, down into the scene, except for a moment he felt tiny, compressed, smaller than a quill. Then he was standing in front of Harry, and from the shock on the other boy's face, Cedric knew Harry could see him.  
"Hold on," he said, the only thing he could think of to say.

Then, remembering what he had seen through the sky earlier, he had one last request. "Take my body back," he told Harry. "Take my body back to my parents."

After several people he didn't know, Cedric then saw Lily emerge from Voldemort's wand, as he knew he must have done. The shock and amazement on Harry's face when he had seen Cedric were nothing to his expression at the sight of his mother.

"Your father's coming..." she said. "He wants to see you...it will be all right...hold on..."

Cedric saw the sadness pooling in her eyes; he knew that she wanted to say so much more.

She was followed by James, and his eyes held not only sadness but pride, pride at the strength and courage of his son against unimaginable odds. Cedric wished for his and Lily's sake that they would have more time, that they could say more, but he knew that the duel would soon be over, and they would fade.

The strength in Harry's face when he broke the connection and they disappeared would be cemented in all three of their memories.


	6. Padfoot and Prongs

**A/N: Time for the reunion of the decade. Prepare for feels, my friends. You knew it was coming.**

James was relaxing on one of the clouds, staring into the empty sky over his head. As usual, he was thinking about Harry.

"Imagine, Lils," he said, "we would be dealing with raising an angsty teenager right now."

Lily laughed, but there was sadness at its edges. "I'd love to have the chance."

Their newest neighbor, Cedric Diggory, was sitting some distance away, staring off into space. James wondered what he was thinking about. "I think it's getting to be about spring down there now," he commented.

James nodded. "That sounds about right. We know Christmas passed a while ago, because Harry had that party with his club..."

Cedric made a face. James grinned, amused to see the handsome young man blushing. "Hey, there are plenty of worse people Cho could've chosen to move on to," James pointed out. Cedric shrugged. "I s'pose, but they're sort of falling apart anyway."

James grinned. "Who knows, Harry might find he has a thing for redheads like his father," he joked, glancing at Lily. She grinned and shook her head.

"The castle's bursting with Weasleys, and yet there's only one girl! I mean, what are the chances?" James continued.

Cedric stood up and walked over to Lily and James. "I don't know her all that well, but she seems nice enough. A Chaser, right?"

"It's the best Quidditch position," said James with a wink. Lily laughed. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, James. Harry has plenty of life left to find his 'soulmate'."

"Hopefully, anyway," Cedric said darkly. "His life's been crazy enough, I honestly wasn't too surprised when he ended up in the tournament."

"At least the Order is back together," Lily noted. "I'm not sure how much Sirius likes being stuck in his old house, but at least he and Remus are doing better. Relatively," she added.

Suddenly, a figure seemed to appear in the distance. It looked as if it was falling through some kind of silvery curtain that had appeared in midair. Whoever it was, they stood in front of the curtain thing, looking around in confusion.  
"Is that someone else who..?" Cedric asked.  
"It's gotta be," James replied slowly. "But who..."

He started walking towards the distant figure, trying to figure out if it was someone he knew. As he got closer, he was able to discern that whoever it was was a man, probably his age. Then he got close enough to see the face, and he froze.  
James' eyes stung behind his glasses and his mouth fell open, splitting his face with a grin. It couldn't be...there was no way...but it was!

It was Sirius, he was here, he was actually here, and James didn't have to say a word; they ran towards each other and met in the middle in a fierce, brotherly embrace. Lily was James' soulmate, but Sirius was his brother, his other half. His years in Azkaban were gone; he looked exactly the same as he had the last time they had seen each other alive. "Sirius—mate—how?" James asked.  
Sirius looked at him, tears shining in his laughing eyes. "Well, Prongs, I've never been happier to be dead."  
James laughed, and then Sirius joined in, and somehow neither one of them could stop. It was just like it used to be; and even though he'd had Lily with him, James was suddenly realizing how empty he'd felt for fourteen long years. Now if only Remus was here too...but he had a life to live. Harry needed him. He might have a chance at being happy again.

Lily ran up to them, her green eyes wide with happy shock and her long red hair blowing behind her. "Sirius!" she exclaimed.  
"Well, if it isn't the lovely Lily-pad," Sirius said with a grin. "Happy to see you again, too... though it's a shame I can't call you Evans anymore."  
"Sirius," Lily laughed, "We were married for a year before we ended up here. You should've had enough time to get used to it."  
Sirius shrugged. "Old habits die hard. Speaking of, would you be surprised that my last words to your son were 'nice one, James'?"  
"Stop it, Padfoot, I'm trying to be a strong man and not cry," James muttered.

Lily laughed, although she was definitely crying. "I won't judge."

"Good, because I gave up trying a while ago," said Sirius, and even though James knew that Harry and Remus especially must be missing him, he (somewhat selfishly) was almost too happy to care.  
Lily twined her fingers with James' and swung an arm around Sirius' shoulders. "Padfoot and Prongs are together again," she pronounced.


End file.
